Juliet 'Random Order' album

Singer/songwriter Juliet Richardson (aka Juliet) is a star in the making, a relative newcomer determined not to be another “cookie-cutter” pop-rock pin-up girl. With her auspicious debut Random Order, the striking 25 year old is poised to enter the big league.

Though her songs, voice and attitude are rich in the musical heritage forged by seminal female pop icons like Debbie Harry, Joan Jett and Annie Lennox, as well as contemporary female pop rebels like Bjork and Gwen Stefani, Juliet’s path is refreshingly original.

"I am guided by my own impulses" she admits, having learned much from her experiences fronting pop-rock band 1 Plus 1. Though the group scored a minor pop hit in 2000 with the commercial release of their raucous cover of The Runaways’ signature hit Cherry Bomb, Juliet was unhappy with her sugary-pop image, and incited the band to rebellion.

"I never wanted to be a face or a product” she explains. “I had no idea that is what I had signed up to be. I had spent my whole life doing what I was told. I was 20 with no idea of who I was… only an impulse of what I wasn’t. When I realized that I was about to be another manufactured pop tart, I shaved my head, started screaming in black instead of bouncing in pink, and MNQNN (Mannequin) was born. Elektra had no idea what to do with us and let us go.”

After 2 years lugging her own gear round dingy rock clubs with MNQNN, Juliet decided to reach out to 1 Plus 1’s former A&R man, Josh Deutsch (now at Virgin Records). Josh signed her as a solo artist and they began assembling a team to construct her debut. After reconnecting with her former collaborator Steve Sidelynk, Juliet was introduced to Stuart Price, producer, aka remixer/producer Jacques Lu Cont of electronic dance-pop acts Les Rhythmes Digitales and Zoot Woman. The two hit it off instantly and the seeds of Random Order were sewn.

Alongside Sidelynk and Price, an impressive cast of international music heavyweights were assembled to work on the record including acclaimed producer / arranger Guy Sigsworth (Frou Frou, Bjork, Madonna) and mix engineer / remixer Mark “Spike” Stent (Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, U2, No Doubt, Keane). The resulting collection is an edgy and infectious, semi-autobiographical patchwork surging with a charismatic seismic intensity that hints at Juliet’s own tug of war between wisdom and stupidity, truth and affirmation. “I want to tell real stories from my experiences. There’s enough fiction in the world. People become more interesting when they’re honest. If I was going to bother to do this, I had to allow myself to be honest and raw because that inspires a real human connection.”

Set against a backdrop of scintillating dance-inflected rock beats, Random Order induces a tidal wave of emotional vistas where Juliet’s brooding vocals seduce and entice listeners with a potent cocktail of penetrating sensuality and undeniable bravado. Composed spontaneously over an inspired 2 week writing spree in New York and London (followed by recording sessions at Chris Blackwell’s legendary Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas), the album is a kinetic hybrid of melodic electronic, dance, pop and rock referencing 1980’s post-punk / new wave with sleek and, deceptively simple, modern musical innovation that is both nostalgic and contemporary.

"Working with Stuart was great," she recounts. "We had a perfect partnership. Basically, we were writing a song a day. We didn’t think too much about what we were doing, we just went with it. There were no rules or boundaries, just a meaningful attempt to create something instinctual. While most of my early musical references came from the church, this album reflects inspiration from some of the first records I had ever heard, given to me by my brother like Mono 'Life In Mono,' Jeff Buckley 'Grace,' Daft Punk 'Homework,' My Bloody Valentine 'Loveless,' Radiohead 'OK Computer' and Sam Phillips 'Indescribable Wow.' These were the soundtrack to my early 20's. Stuart definitely complimented these with his signature sound, making the album an eloquent collage of styles and sounds.”
On Random Order, each song depicts a vivid vignette interwoven with themes of disillusionment, hazy romance, ecstasy, self-awareness, truth, enlightenment and empowerment. Tracks like the brooding opus “Avalon,” the nihilistic disco-punk fuelled “On The Dance Floor,” the pensive “Kraftwerk meets Nine Inch Nails” inspired “Neverland and “Ride The Pain” heave with throbbing bass, fizzly 80’s synths, nasty guitar riffs and feverish beats.

The album’s centerpieces are “New Shoes” and “Would You Mind.” The majestic “New Shoes” is a torchlight ballad co-written, arranged and produced by Guy Sigsworth. The romantic elegy captures Juliet at her most bare and enraptured. “Would You Mind” is a slow-burning testimonial accentuated by an irresistible underpinning dirty pop groove revealing a fiery chanteuse who is resoundingly self-assured.

The set closes with the stripped-down and mainly acoustic “Pot Of Gold.” The poignant song highlights the performer at her most lucid, inspired and luminous waxing self-affirming words of wisdom: “It took a while for me to see what was going on…I found a way around me, there’s a pot of gold on the other side...only you decide…I just wanted you to know everything’s gonna be alright.”

Writing and recording the 12-song opus was definitely a cathartic process for Juliet, and a longtime coming. “It was like boot camp for me” she recalls. “This is my 2nd time around and the result of my own personal and artistic maturity. Having an opportunity to be pure and fluid and express myself honestly was liberating and long overdue.”

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Juliet - Random Order